Site of the rapes that led to at least 20 assailants being charged in the Liberty County assault of an 11-year-old girl. Cell phone videos of the attacks allegedly were circulated in the school district.

Eric McGowen is escorted into Liberty County Courthouse for sentencing Sept. 13, 2012. He was convicted in the repeated group sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.

Photo By LCSO

Walter Jamal Harrison, 26, of Cleveland has become the 19th suspect to be charged in connection with the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl from Cleveland.

Photo By Michael Paulsen/Chronicle

Anita Ellis wipes away tears as she and Daphne Straughter listen to Houston community activist Quanell X, who held a rally in Cleveland where he requested funds for lawyers for suspects in the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl. Ellis said her son, Timothy Ellis, was one of the first men to turn himself in to police.

Photo By David J. Phillip/.

Timothy Daray Ellis leaves the Liberty County Courthouse after a status update in his case Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, in Liberty, Texas. Ellis is among more than a dozen men accused of taking part in a series of sexual assaults on an 11-year-old girl that horrified and divided their small Southeast Texas town appeared in court Monday. The investigation began last year after one of the girl's friends told a teacher he had seen a lurid cell phone video that showed the girl being raped in an abandoned trailer. Also accused are six juvenile boys, three of whom have pleaded guilty.

This undated booking photo provided by the Liberty County Sheriff's Department in Liberty, Texas, shows Eric McGowen. McGowan, 20, the first defendant to face trial among a group of men and boys accused of repeatedly raping a young Texas girl, vanished Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012 during a break in the proceedings in Liberty, Texas, following emotionally charged testimony from the alleged victim. McGowen, is among 14 adults charged in the case. Prosecutors and defense attorneys huddled briefly with Judge Mark Morefield after McGowen failed to return to the courtroom following an afternoon break. The judge then told jurors the trial will go on without him. Morefield later said a bench warrant had been issued, and McGowen's bail was increased from $35,000 to $250,000. The judge denied a defense motion for a continuance in the case and said the trial will resume Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Courtesy the Liberty County Sheriff's Department)

Photo By David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Rayford Tyrone Ellis Jr., right, and Timothy Daray Ellis, left, leave the Liberty County Courthouse after a status update in their cases Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, in Liberty, Texas. Both men are among more than a dozen men accused of taking part in a series of sexual assaults on an 11-year-old girl that horrified and divided their small Southeast Texas town that appeared in court Monday. The investigation began last year after one of the girl's friends told a teacher he had seen a lurid cell phone video that showed the girl being raped in an abandoned trailer. Also accused are six juvenile boys, three of whom have pleaded guilty. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Photo By Melissa Phillip

Eric McGowen is escorted from the Liberty County Courthouse on Thursday after he was sentenced to 99 years without parole. He was convicted in the repeated group sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.

LIBERTY - Jurors took less than 10 minutes on Wednesday to hand a life sentence to Jared Len Cruse, who shook his head and dabbed his eyes with tissue after being convicted of participating in the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl.

Convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child in concert with others, the 20-year-old will not be eligible for parole.

Also on Wednesday, the Houston Chronicle learned that the Cleveland girl at the center of the gang rape that captured national attention was the victim of another sexual assault in Jefferson County.

According to investigators there, the assault occurred Dec. 12, 2011, when the girl ran away from Girls' Haven in Beaumont. She had been placed there after Child Protective Services removed her from her Liberty County home for her protection when the 2010 gang rapes were under investigation.

"But then she ran away from the home with another girl. Both were on the streets for about a week," Jefferson County prosecutor Ed Schettle said Wednesday.

At some point, she encountered 30-year-old Jacobi Gilbert, who had a prior conviction as a drug dealer in Fort Bend County. He assaulted her at his apartment in Beaumont and then pleaded guilty in September to aggravated sexual assault of a child in exchange for deferred probation, Schettle said.

'No choir boy'

Liberty County authorities view the rapes in Cleveland as more flagrant than the Jefferson County assault because of the number of men and boys involved and because the crimes also were videotaped.

Prosecutors had requested a life sentence for Cruse, stressing how he was "no choir boy." Shortly after being released on bail in the gang rape case, he robbed a convenience store and later shot a girl in the arm during a home invasion. He is serving an eight-year sentence for these two crimes that occurred in neighboring San Jacinto County.

Cruse is only the second of 20 males who have been charged in the girl's rape to be tried in Liberty County. The first, Eric McGowen, received a 99-year sentence. Of those remaining, seven juveniles received probated sentences; six adults received 15-year sentences in exchange for guilty pleas and agreeing to testify against their peers; and five are awaiting trial.

After the life sentence was issued Wednesday, State District Judge Mark Morefield said, "Everyone loses in cases like this. It's sad for the victim, community and young defendants. But this kind of conduct cannot go unnoticed and unpunished."

Didn't know age

Prosecutors described Cruse as one of a "pack of dogs" who gang-raped the girl; the defense likened her to a "spider" who lured men into her web.

In closing remarks on Wednesday, the defendant's attorney, Steve Taylor, reminded jurors that the victim had admitted being a "willing participant" but that prosecutors will "tell you the law doesn't care … off with their heads!"

He questioned whether the law can be that absolute.

"People don't come with signs telling their age," Taylor said. "How does a young man know? You can't cut off their legs and count the rings like a tree."

Prosecutors countered that the law provides no excuse for sex with children. Because the assault was videotaped, the only defense Cruse can raise is say to say it's her fault, prosecutor Joe Warren said.

"Look at how proud he is on that video as his buddies say 'beat that ho,' " Warren said.